Ace, Gen and the World: September 6-14: Kuala Lumpur and Malaysian Borneo (Malaysia)

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

September 6-14: Kuala Lumpur and Malaysian Borneo (Malaysia)

We kicked off our trip to Malaysia in style – using our 9-year anniversary as a pretty good excuse, Gen’s awesome brother used his connections to get us the employee discount at the Hilton in Kuala Lumpur (merci Francois!!!). Not only did we get a hefty discount, we also got upgraded to one of the most luxurious suites in the whole hotel. We felt a bit ridiculous showing up with our backpacks to a penthouse suite with two bathrooms, a living room, dining room, office and even a walk-in closet. As if that wasn’t enough, we also got access to the executive lounge, serving delicious free food and drinks.

Although the hotel was nice enough for us to lock ourselves in our room for the entire 3 days, we did actually manage to visit some of the city (although only one half day – oops). Kuala Lumpur is an impressive city – more modern than we had expected, with the main attraction being the famous Petronas towers. The view from the 86^th floor is breathtaking. Apparently little India and Chinatown are well worth visiting too, but the closest we got to seeing them was eating the free Asian food at our amazing hotel J.

Next we left to explore Borneo, which was the highlight of our trip to Malaysia. Borneo is a nature lover’s dream come true – just too many things to do in such a short time! We managed to pack everything into a 5-day nature blitz: scuba diving in the Semporna archipelago, a visit to the orangutan rehabilitation center in Sepilok, and then 3 days in the deep jungle at a lodge up the Kota Kinabatangan river. Overall, it was an exhausting but amazing wildlife adventure where we saw virtually everything we hoped for: wild orangutans, proboscis monkeys (totally bizarre!), hundreds of macaw monkeys, gorgeous sea turtles, giant monitor lizards, bearded pigs, crocodiles, and countless amazing birds and fish. Oh – and we mustn’t forget the ants, grasshoppers and cockroaches in our bed. Many great memories, but as you can imagine we weren’t sad to head back to civilization.

Next stop: Singapore.

Photos - September 6-14: Kuala Lumpur and Malaysian Bornea (Malaysia)

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Fun Facts

To avoid dehydration at high altitude, it is suggested to drink at least 4-5 liters of water per day!
To support his cocaine trafficking operations, Pablo Escobar once bought 15 planes and 6 helicopters. He reportedly spent $2500 a month purchasing rubber bands to wrap his stacks of cash.
Rodriguez, an American musician that had little success in the U.S. in the 70’s, went platinum and became highly influential in South Africa. However, his fame remained completely unknown to him until 1998, when his eldest daughter came across a website dedicated to him.
Table Mountain alone has over 1,500 hiking trails, as well as 1,500 species of plants, more than the entire United Kingdom.
South Africa has the cheapest electricity and the third most safe, drinkable tap water in the world.
The average annual salary in Zanzibar, Tanzania is US$250.
The African Masai are Polygamous, and there is a famous Masai leader who purportedly has 42 wives and 240 children.
From standstill, the cheetah can reach 100 km/hour in merely 3 seconds.
A tiny jellyfish called the Box Jellyfish, not the great white shark, is the most deadly and dangerous marine species in Australia
You can rent a surfboard at the post office in Crescent Head, Australia
The 10 most venomous snakes in the world can be found in Australia
A Gatorade at the corner store in Australia costs $4.50
Singapore has the highest percentage of millionaires per capita in the world.
Ever have those moments when you’re travelling and wake up in the middle of the night unsure where you are? Oddly enough, after almost 5 months of travelling through 11 countries you have those memory lapses awake, in broad daylight ☺.
In Bali, everyone’s first name is determined by the order in which they were born. For example, the oldest male in the family is named Wayan, the second is Made, the third is Nyoman, the fourth is Ketut and the order repeats itself after the third male. This becomes somewhat confusing, because almost every fourth male has the same name!
Ever seen an upside down rainbow? We have!
The Dutch government plans to prohibit the purchase of cannabis by tourists in Amsterdam in January 2013 (a “green card” only issued to citizens will be required thereafter).
Although quite rare, certain vineyards still use egg whites to filter their wine. This traditional method, whereby a thin layer of egg whites are poured into the cask and filter down through the wine over time, is believed to retain more flavor than the more typical filtering process.
Gaudí died after being struck by a tram on his way to church. Assumed to be a beggar because of his lack of ID and shabby clothing, he did not receive immediate aid. By the time he was recognized at a very rudimentary hospital the following day, it was too late to revive him.
Christopher Columbus is buried in Seville, Spain – or is he? This is a controversial subject, as it is also believed that he is (mostly) buried in the Dominican Republic.
Gen’s last name (Guay) means “cool” in Spanish. As if she wasn’t already cool enough! ;)
What do 3 North Americans at a Spanish house party have in common, other than their nationality? White teeth, according to an apparently common Spaniard stereotype.
To become a smokejumper, you have to be able to do 7 pull-ups, 45 sit-ups, 25 push-ups and run ¼ mile in under 11 minutes. Of course, Ace is sure that he can do this – Gen, not so much :)
Turkish regulations prohibit any construction in tourist regions during the tourist season. Something more countries should adopt!
Apparently (and a little surprisingly ;), Ace has a long lost identical twin that happens to be a European football/soccer star. In our first week, the Turks have asked us twice if it was indeed him… the second group had even bet on it amongst each other. Why did he end up being the boring banker? ;)
Turkey is the only country in the world that sits on two continents - the Bosphorus strait separates the European and Asian regions.
In Mexico it is illegal for stores to sell alcohol after 2pm on Sundays. One might think that this relates to religion, however it’s actually because Mexicans get so drunk on Sundays that if they sold booze in the afternoon no one would go to work on Monday (okay, this one comes from a pre-Turkey boys trip down south last month… but I thought it was still amusing enough to merit a bullet point – Gen, not so much).

Stupid Mistakes (hopefully to be a short section)

Gen attempting a 5-hour hike at 4,000 meters before being fully acclimatized. NOT recommended!
Packing your favorite Swiss army knife in your carry-on bag when about to take a flight. Bye bye knife ☹
18 hours of bus to visit San Gil, possibly the worst ecotourism capital in the world!
Ace dropping our iPad on our MacBook Air. Note: a new MacBook Air screen costs $500!
Expecting to book a diving trip to Sipadan (potentially the top dive site in the world) 2 days in advance – to find out that it was fully booked for the next 2 months.
We found some really cheap “first class” train tickets leaving San Sebastian – but it turns out that “first class” tickets that have “unassigned seats” really mean you don’t have a seat whatsoever, so if the train is full you end up enjoying your “first class” experience sitting on the floor.
After waiting in line for about 1 ½ hours to watch the Euro semi-finals in an open air stadium in Seville with about 5,000 people and an amazing ambiance, don’t step outside once regulation time is over. Why not? Because, unlike the quarterfinals, the semi-finals have overtime followed by penalty kicks, and no matter how clueless and innocent a tourist can try to look, security won’t let you back in!
When going to see the highlight attraction in a city, charge the battery in your camera. After learning from that mistake by bringing a backup battery the next time, make sure that one is charged too.
Before we left Canada, as we were walking towards the Turkish embassy to apply for our visas we agreed to include a “stupid mistakes” section on this site. When we showed up, the embassy evidently asked us for our passports, which, believe it or not, we had both forgotten at home. First stupid mistake: Check.

Blog Archive

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

September 6-14: Kuala Lumpur and Malaysian Borneo (Malaysia)

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